Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-06-18
TRAVELS In JAPAN.
A CHAPTER UPON JAPANESE ART
WORK AND ARTISTS.
The Craze for Old Pottery from the
orient-China Tea Sets Made
in France-Etc.
[correspondence REcoRp. uMoN.


seized upon at every opportunity by the
Government collectors for museums, or by
the wealthy owners of private collections,
who are willing to give any price for a
choice bit. Nevertheless, l know of many
rare pieces of old as well as beautiful
pottery and fine porcelain in the private
houses of old japanese, and foreign fami-
lies; bronzes, too, and priceless kakemono;,
but one may safely be very skeptical as re-
CARDS all he finds for sale insthe myriad
shops. At the house of friend in the
Isukidji (the foreign concession at Tollio)
to-day, | learned
a LITTLE ABOUT CERAMICS,
Which may be of interest. After admir-
ing tiny gem of gray and green cloisonne
ware, with lining of gold, the CONVERSE
ton turned in the direction of that most
| beautiful style which for richness Of effect
is surpassed by none The scope of
cloisonne decoration is broadening every
day, and in place of the well-known blue
| background, upon which birds and flowers
stand out in bright colors, one finds to-day
backgrounds of many colors tinted ex-
: quisitely with new and intricate designs
of flowers, fish and birds in fintS and
shades as varied and perfect as are found
t in the artists work on canvas.
, Towards Corea the japanese are always
, turning in seeking the source of all art
and religion, except the native Shinto
faith, and from that locked land of these
days came in A. D. 5000 the first work
ers in porcelain, and indeed the pioneers
of all civilizing influences were among the
people who came over at that time to es-
: cape from the famine which had fallen
! upon their native country. OF course
Chinese influence is closely connected with
Corean at this time, and ever after. the
Japanese has looked to China as we do to
old Greece and Rome, as the fountain
head of learning in arts and letters. Pre-
vious to that date the work of the Japan
csc was
THE SAME AS THAT OF OUR INDIANS,
A rough clay, seldom glazed and with the
crudest kind of decoration, while not until
the sixteenth century was the fine porce-
lain made. The first famous pottery was
in Seto, a small place near Nagoya, where
the clay is found and where the work is
still carried on, whole families devoting
themselves to il, and sending their goods
to the Nagoya merchants. As in Dresden,
the different parts of a vase or teapot are
made by different people and the pieces
Joined while damp; many, many hands do
the work upon the little cups and urns
which finally find their way into our home
shops. All through the country about
Nagoya are these little home laborers,
though several factories have of late years
been started which fear will at last sap
up these little Municipalities and at the
same time kill the certain charm which
they seem to work into their products. All
dishes in the household are termed seto-
mono in japanese, the name being derived
from this town and the word mono which
means thing. Until 1868 the potter was
ranked among the highest men in the
trains of a Daimio, and he worked for his
master, only devoting his life to his art
No wonder that the old pieces should stand
before the products of to-day, when they
were done for love and not for money.
VARIOUS WARES IN JAPANESE ART.
Mino ware is usually blue, the cobalt
used in the coloring being brought from
: China, though the superior quality comes
!, from Europe. Kaga ware is with red
ground, having designs in flowers or ara
besques in many colors. Hizen ware is
OJE VI lIlG -LlOSl Ou dttOIIiL Ol It's
brightness and varied coloring Dwarf
| is similar to mino ware, but of richer
blue.
Above all names, perhaps, Satsuma is
heard oftenest, but rarest seen in honest
beauty. In the early part of the seven
tenth century this ware was decorated
!; only with black-line designs, or left in a
naturnal state, the delicate cream tints,
with the cracSle blaze, giving an mex
5 pressibly rich effect In the last century
; the colored decoration of satsuma ware
was carried to its hight, and won fame at
once, though the "old" still holds its own.
The native name is snake ware, probably
derived from. a fancied resemblance between
the crackle and the dried skin of a SER
pent. Most satsrma ware is what is
called at home half porcelain" and is
quite heavy. Some of this ware, with
designs in gold and colored arabesque, are
quite dazzling.
CHINA SETS FROM FRANCE.
Much French china is imported and
decorated with native designs and then
, sent to the foreign market, indeed the
! greatest part of the thin semi-transparent
: porcelain we admire so much in our
} Asiatic tea sets is from the other side of
the world, though now the japanese are
almost equaling the work of Europe in
achieving this desired thinness. Kioto is
world famed for its china, but Yobio and
Yokohama are crowding its products out of
the market by cheaper, but far inferior
wares, which, however, serve all purposes
of use and even beauty as well as the better
work, which really requires an experienced
eye to detect any difference between it and
the imitation.
A kakemono is painted picture, often
however combined with silk or colored
paper, to represent the draperv of figure
bearing a painted face. A long scroll,
either of silk or paper, with rolling stick
at both ends, forms the foundation, the
picture is pasted upon this and framed
with folds of rich brocade or left with the
margin of the scroll as its only setting.
Some of the brightest brocades, which in
their first DAYS must have been quite daz-
zling and rather too obtrusive, have by age
attained a wonderfully pleasing subdued
tone, which one is often found admiring at
the risk of overlooking the usually quiet
picture.
THE USE OF WATER-coLoR
Is general in pictorial art, and from the
wonderful facility acquired by the con-
stdilt use OF the DrtlSh DN all people In
daily writing or printing their letters,
some remarkable examples of power are
found even among school children, who
! with few strokes of the flexible hair
brush will represent man, bird or beast
in seeming actual movement. Bamboo in
all phases is deserving and gracious sub
ject, and It's bending branches in the rain
or with upward curve in the sunlight are
| met IN eyer-pleasing varieties.
In black and white the japanese artist
is most successful, for though his coloring
may be beautiful and effective in general
way, have seen few pieces which gained
anything by the use of color. Monkeys
with pink faces and brown hair of all but
readiness, gold pheasaats and the brown
! gray quail are few exceptions. Gliding
IS much used in pictures whenever it is
possible, and reminds me often of those
pieces OF medieval art III European gall
leries, where gold leaf Is laid on in ali its
ugly hatness in the midst of pigments
which seem to stand oui in actual round
ness.